


Music You Can Taste

by hellenberg



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Post-Canon, Post-Graduation, fluffy Chasefield drabbles yass, learning to cook, they're cute and domestic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-08 09:10:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21473560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellenberg/pseuds/hellenberg
Summary: Max and Victoria have been living together for awhile. Max is trying to teach Victoria some things that she'd never had the chance to learn.or: useless rich wife never made noodles in her life
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Victoria Chase, Rachel Amber/Chloe Price
Comments: 9
Kudos: 141





	Music You Can Taste

**Author's Note:**

> A snapshot of domestic life, inspired entirely by the following post which I thought was adorable:
> 
> https://asprii.tumblr.com/post/166083222562/useless-rich-wife-never-made-noodles-in-her-life

“Why did I just get in trouble?”

Max sighs, opening a packet of ramen.

“You’re not in trouble,” she explains tiredly. “You’re my wife. But…”

She glances over her shoulder with an exasperated, if nonetheless fond, expression.

“You didn’t think you had to cook noodles. You just put them in water and serve them?”

Many of their former Blackwell classmates could still remember themselves wilting under the glare of Victoria Chase. Many of them would have been surprised to see Victoria looking genuinely embarrassed for once.

“There’s,” Max gently says, “there’s no such thing as instant noodles.” At least, not in that way. Some amount of heat is generally required. It says so on the packaging, for heaven’s sake.

“I didn’t know how ramen worked!”

Max can just picture Taylor and Courtney bowing to the every whim of their Ice Queen, taking care of the trivial and mundane. Before them, probably an array of kitchen staff at the Chase family’s mansion. “Well.”

Victoria buries her face in her arms. “...I never made it at home.”

\---

So they’re working on it, a little bit at a time, and today it’s eggs. There’s only so many ways you can mess up eggs.

“I still don’t see why I have to do this,” Victoria grumbles, but quietly, because she’s not actually opposed to this sort of attention from Max. Impossible, patient, _adorable_ Max.

“You’ve got to at least learn how to scramble an egg.” Her arms are wrapped around Victoria, hugging her torso. Lips murmuring into her ear.

God. She’s impossible but Victoria is not about to push her away.

Having Max pressed up against her back is a little bit of a distraction. Not enough of one to keep her from using the spatula properly. It helps that Max is gently directing her as she learns.

“Be sure to keep it moving,” Max says. “Low-ish heat and stirring. That’s basically the trick to perfect scrambled eggs.”

Max has opinions on scrambled eggs. Apparently Gordon Ramsay did a tutorial on the subject. Victoria rolls her eyes at Max and her YouTube habits but has to admit that cooking videos can be almost relaxing sometimes.

And Max puts up with her taste in anime music videos, so she’s not complaining.

“That’s looking good.” Max gives her a kiss on the cheek. “Look at that! I’m proud of you, Tori.”

She’s definitely not blushing. Nope.

They pile the eggs on sourdough toast and Max is beaming at her. She’s not being held to the full Gordon Ramsay standard but honestly this breakfast that she made is damn fine. Victoria teases Max with a jab about avocado toast, because that’s something that hipsters probably eat, and it’s a low-effort joke but Max lets out this little gigglesnort that makes Victoria’s heart flip. It never gets old.

Victoria spends the rest of the day in a very good mood.

\---

“The trick is to use a sharp knife.” Max motions towards an onion. “I think dull knives, like, damage the cells? Good ventilation is also important.” She takes a second to think about it. “Some people light a candle, but I don’t think that helps as much as they say. Never really needed it, actually.”

“Have they suggested goggles?” Victoria glares at the onion. It glares back.

“I guess that would work.” Max shrugs. “But dicing an onion doesn’t need to be that complicated. It’s a useful skill. The sharper the knife, the better.”

Victoria takes a deep breath. “Okay.” She exhales. “I’m, um. A little worried about the knife.”

Max pats her on the shoulder. “Sharp knives are safer. Less likely to slip.” She demonstrates. “See? You hold the onion like this, fingers curled. That way, your fingertips are safe. Down, and then across. Now you try.”

She does a pretty good job, actually, although her eyes are watering before it’s over. “Dammit.” Victoria wipes at her face with the back of her sleeve. “I can do this.”

Max watches with some amusement. “I can tell that slicing a jalapeño is going to be even more fun.”

\---

It’s been awhile since they’ve been able to catch up with Rachel and Chloe, so the invite to dinner is greatly appreciated. Rachel’s starred in a streak of indie films around Seattle, while Chloe’s getting pretty good reviews as a tattoo artist. Their apartment is a nice place for old friends to hang out.

Max and Victoria contribute a casserole dish of scalloped potatoes. Rachel outdoes herself as party host once again.

“Those green beans were really good,” Max tells her afterwards. “You have got to share the recipe!”

Rachel smiles. “No problem. It’s probably the garlic and soy sauce, I’ve been playing around with flavors lately.”

“Is Mad Max embracing her domestic side?” Chloe winks at her. “Kinda hard to imagine, I remember when we were kids that time your mom tried to get us to help with Thanksgiving dinner and you dropped a whole carton of m—”

“Thank you, Chloe.” Max doesn’t have to reach over and swat her laughing friend on the arm; Rachel does it for her. “Actually, I’ve been showing Tori around the kitchen. It’s been fun.”

With a wry look, Rachel slides a five dollar bill to Chloe, who pockets it gleefully.

“What was that about?”

“We kinda had a bet running,” Chloe proudly explains. “See, I was confident that you’d be bossing Vicky around and getting her all domesticated before the year was out, but Rachel—”

“It’s not over yet.” Rachel runs a hand through her hair, smiling wickedly. “It remains to be seen whether we confirm or reject the hypothesis that Max has Big Top Energy—”

Victoria makes a rude gesture.

“Hey,” Rachel says, “I’m on your side, you should know.”

“For your information,” Victoria looks pointedly at Chloe, “what we do in the privacy of our bedroom is none of your business, and Max is my equal partner in all things.” She throws an arm around her favorite hopeless hipster. “Isn’t that right, Maxine?”

Max leans up to press a kiss against the spot under Victoria’s jaw where she knows she’s sensitive. “Whatever you say,” she breathes, “_Tori_.”

Victoria can’t quite suppress the shiver that runs through her. A touch from Max, and her icy defenses melt.

“Oh my God.” Chloe shakes her head. “Rach, were we ever this bad?”

\---

It’s not quite the life that Victoria had imagined she’d live, but she’s living it now and doesn’t regret a single moment of it.

Take, for example, grocery shopping. The produce aisle of any supermarket might as well have been an undiscovered country to her. And yet, since getting with Max (who’d have expected _that_, now?), she’s been actually getting familiar with what fresh fruits and vegetables look like.

“How the fuck does every other place not have Key limes? You can’t have a Key lime pie without Key fucking limes!”

Max pokes her in the side.

Well, at least this place is _organic_.

She’s learnt a lot over the past few weeks, little tips that Max has picked up over the years. The most important thing, though, is that following directions is a good place to start. There’s nothing wrong with looking up recipes. She’s actually gotten kinda invested in them.

For example, Victoria has learnt that real Key limes aren’t that much of a greenish color. They’re definitely not so vibrantly green as the obviously artificial dyes used by lime-flavored foods. Doesn’t matter for her purposes. It'll add to the homemade sort of look.

There’s a lot of mixing involved, especially with the whipped cream topping. (Maybe they should buy an electric mixer…) And then the whole thing needs to be chilled thoroughly after baking. It’s considerable work, though not nearly as much as Victoria expected, culminating in her personally serving Max a slice after dinner.

She’s watching with bated breath as Max takes a forkful into her mouth. “Oh my God.” Max’s eyes actually flutter shut. “Wowser.”

“Do you…?”

“Victoria,” Max says, “this is amazing.”

It’s a tremendous relief, and then pride surges through her upon hearing those words. Victoria takes a bite and is absolutely blown away. Sweet and delicate, as good as any restaurant fare, the flavor speaks to her like the notes of a nearly-forgotten song. Like music. That stirs a faint memory of a movie: maybe French?

This really is a good Key lime pie. And besides, she’s done well enough to impress Max. Her beautiful, utterly adorable wife who is smiling at her right now, holy shit she’s lucky to be with this girl.

Of course, she _has_ retained some quirks from high school.

“Wait, Max,” Victoria asks, laughter in her voice, “you hipster dork – did you seriously just say ‘wowser’?”


End file.
